The commonwealth government is working on broadening its assistance measures to help states deal with Covid, in the wake of the worsening New South Wales outbreak. NSW’s lockdown triggered the emergency payments put in place when Melbourne entered its fourth lockdown in May. Under the agreement struck with state and territory leaders at national cabinet, the states are expected to provide business support, while income support has been left to the commonwealth. Last week, NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet wrote to his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg and asked for jobkeeper to be reinstated. On Sunday, Perrottet said NSW had spent about $1.4bn on business support during the lockdown, and would announce a second assistance package later in the week.

Source: The Guardian July 11, 2021 04:52 UTC